Ornamenting machine



Dec. 27, 1960 Y J. c. STANLEY ETAL 2,966,134

ORNAMENTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 26, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' INVENTORS .STANLEY MOORE,JR. WILLIAMS .LEGOFF ATTORNEY Dec. 27, 1960 c STANLEY ETAL 2,966,134

ORNAMENTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 26, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS J.C.STANLEY R.B.MO ORE,JR. C.F.W|LLIAMS G.V.LEGOFF BY k\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ,L

ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,966,134 ORNAMENTING MACHmE John C. Stanley, Robert B. Moore, Jr., Charles F. Williams, and George V. Le Golf, Corinth, Miss., assignors to The Gateway Corporation, Corinth, Miss.

Filed Feb. 26, 1958, Ser. No. 717,605 9 Claims. (Cl. 118-211) This invention relates to the manufacture and sale of commodities and to equipment employed in such manufacture including in the application to such commodities of an unusual and decorative design to enhance the attractiveness and salability of the article as well as to give it a distinctive appearance.

The invention relates more particularly to a machine for treating elongated cylindrical objects such as rods, shafts, or the like, to apply an attractive and decorative design in order that they may have an unusual and distinctive appearance peculiar to the particular product so that they may be readily classified and their source of origin recognized.

It is an object of the invention to provide simple inexpensive and relatively compact equipment of readily available parts which can be easily assembled to produce a machine requiring minimum attention and maintenance in its operation, as Well as a machine which will efficiently apply an ornamental design, such as striping in a continuous spiral to a rod or shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a machine of compact construction having belts for rotating and angularly advancing a rod or shaft therethrough and with means for maintaining the desired relation between the work and the machine as well as for adjusting the machine to vary the design applied to the work and with minimum power required for operating such machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective illustrating one application of the invention and the manner of its use;

Fig. 2, a top plan view;

Fig. 3, a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

'Fig. 4, a similar section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5, a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6, an enlarged detail perspective viewed on the line 6--6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7, a section on the line 77 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 8, an end elevation of the structure of the article receiving pan.

Briefly stated, the invention is a device for applying a distinctive and ornamental design to an object such as a rod or shaft and comprises a frame including a table on which multiple conveyor belts are mounted, certain of which support and rotate and another applies a design, a holder being provided for maintaining the work angularly across the conveyor belts and being operable to depress the work into contact with the design applying belt, paint being applied from a well or container by means of a rotating roller having a surface in contact with the surface of the paint applying belt, the power supply being a motor which drives both the conveyor and the paint applicator belts, and the movement of the conveyor belts producing rotation and axial travel of the work.

With continued reference to the drawings, the ornamenting machine of the present invention comprises a frame including a table 10 supporting by legs 11, and on which table is mounted a stand having horizontal members 12, short and long uprights 13 and 14; of angle iron or the like, and a top 15 which provides a support of the diameter of the gear 57, for further speed reduc 2,966,134 Patented Dec. 27, 1960 for a turntable type base 16 secured thereto by means of a pivot forming bolt and nut 17 On the base 16 there are mounted a series of conveyor belts 17 and one or more striping or design applying belts 18 across which is adapted to be angularly received a rod or shaft 19 to which a design is desired to be applied, the upper stretch of the design applying belt is slightly below that of the conveyor belts requiring positive pressure for bringing the design applying belt and work into contact one with the other so that the design will be applied. The upper stretches of the belts '17 move and rotate and cause endwise travel of work such as a rod or shaft 19. The design to be applied may be altered by adjusting the angular relation between the belts 17 and 18 and the rod or shaft 19.

The conveyor belts 17 support, rotate and cause endwise travel of the work. The belts 17 are mounted on pulleys 20 while the design applicator belt 18 is mounted on a pair of pulleys 21 and 22 with the latter preferably of considerably larger diameter. Pulleys 20 are mounted upon shafts 23 and 24, one near each end of the base 16 and these shafts are mounted on hollow standards 25 having base flanges 26 by means of which the standards may be secured to base plate 16 by bolts 27. Within the standards 25 are adjustably mounted upright posts 28 and adapted to be secured in adjusted position by means of set screws 29. On the upper end of each post is detachably secured a yoke 30 by means of a set screw 31. The free arms of the yoke are provided with opposed set screws 32 which engage a housing forming sleeve 33 mounted in spaced bearings 34 on the shaft 23 at one end of the machine and on the shaft 24 at the opposite end of the machine, the pulleys 20 being mounted respectively on the shafts 23 and 24. Similarly pulleys 21 and 22 are mounted on shafts 35 and 36 supported like the shafts 23 and 24 except for the fact that the hollow standards 25 are employed which are shorter in height than the standards 25.

The conveyor and paint applicator belts 17 and 18 are driven by means of sprockets 37 and 38, on the shafts 23 and 35 by a chain 39 which extends around an additional sprocket 40 on a shaft 41 mounted in bearings 42 and 43, one on each of the opposite sides of a paint container 44, into which a paint pick up pulley 45 projects or depends and this pulley has its periphery in contact with the design applying portion of the belt 18. The paint container 44 has a bottom 45' providing an extension at each end of the container spring mounted by means of a belt 46 and an interposed spring 47.

Paint is supplied to the container 44 through a connection 48 from a reservoir 49, the connection 48 being at the level at which it is desired to maintain the paint within the container 44. In order to prevent excess paint from being applied to the paint applicator belt 18, a scraper 50 is adjustably secured by means of a bolt 51 to the container 44.

The chain 39 extends around the sprockets 37 and 38 and drives the shafts 23 and 35 and the belts 17 and 18 in the same direction. The chain also extends around the sprocket 40 and drives the shaft 41 and the paint pulley 45, and the chain in turn is driven by a sprocket 52 on a shaft 53, mounted in a pillow block 54, the outer end of which shaft is connected to and driven by a fiexible cable 55 in a flexible housing 56.

The flexible cable 55 extends and is connected to be driven from a gear 57 in bearing 57'. The gear 57 is driven by a pinion 58 fixed on a shaft 59 on which shaft is mounted a pulley 60 driven by a belt 61 from a smaller pulley 62 on the shaft of a motor 63. The pulley 60 is more than twice the size of pulley 62 for speed reduction and in like manner the pinion 58 is only a small fraction 3 tion. The gear bearing 57' and the pulley 60 are mounted on a stand 65 on the frame of the machine.

In order to present the work to the machine a roller supporting bracket 66 is provided having a pair of sheeve rollers 67 over which the work 19 is advanced to the machine. In order to guide the work a work holder is provided in the form of an angle bar 68 with a lateral extension 69 and a work engaging strip 70 having a surface curved to conform to the curve of the work. Beside the angle 68 are disposed a series of rollers 71 which bear downwardly on the work enough to depress the conveyor belt 17 and bring the work into contact with the paint applicator belt 18. The rollers 71 are mounted on the outer ends of arms 72 secured by bolts 73 in contact with the top surface of the angle bar 68.

The angle bar 68 is adjustably connected by a bolt 74 and lock nuts 75 with a control arm 76 having a hand grip 77 on one end and its opposite end fixed to a cross bar 78 having its ends journaled in bearings 79 fixed to the uprights 14. When the hand grip 77 on the outer end of the handle 76 is depressed the Work 19 likewise will be forced downwardly into contact with the paint applicator belt.

When the work is ejected from the machine it is discharged onto pans 80 and 81 being supported only at its ends. These pans are adjustably mounted by brackets 82, on a bar 83, each bracket 82 comprising a C-shaped yoke 84 with a set screw 85 for securing the bracket on the bar 83 after the desired longitudinal adjustment has been made. The bracket 82 slidably receives a post 86 within the same and is provided with a set screw 87 for securing the parts in fixed relation, the pans 80 and 81 being secured to the upper ends of the posts 86. The pans 80 and 81 are inclined downwardly toward each other so that when the work is discharged only the ends of the Work are engaged, and they are laterally inclined to cause the work to roll sidewise until they engage flanges 88 and 89 at the lower edges of these bars.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A paint striping machine comprising supporting structure, a machine base rotatable on said supporting structure, spaced conveyor belts disposed side by side on said machine base and a paint applying belt beside said conveyor belts but with its upper surface at a slightly lower elevation than the upper surface of said conveyor belts, feed means for supplying shafts one at a time end- Wise onto said conveyor belts, guide means for maintaining each of said shafts as it is fed onto the machine in a definite position and for depressing said shaft to cause it to be engaged by the paint applying belt, driving means for said conveyor and paint applying belts to cause them to rotate and cause endwise travel of each shaft engaging them and receiving means for the shafts discharge from the machine, said receiving means having portions disposed angularly in spaced relation corresponding substantially to the length of the shaft and inclined laterally to the direction of travel of said shafts to cause them to roll supported only by their extremities, and a pivoted lever supporting said guide means adapted to be engaged and operated for raising and lowering said guide means.

2. The structure of claim 1 having a container for paint, a paint roller therein and having a surface in engagement with the surface of said paint applying belt, an adjustable scraper for controlling the amount and thickness of the paint supplied to said paint roller, and supply means for said paint container andfor maintaining a predetermined level of paint therein.

3. A design applying machine comprising supporting u ur pac p yqr belts. disposed Site. by side on said supporting structure and a design applying belt beside said conveyor belts but with its upper surface at a slightly lower elevation thanfthe upper surface of said conveyor belts, feed means for supplying shafts one at a time endwise onto said conveyor belts, guide means for maintaining each of said shafts as it is fed onto the machine in a definite position and for depressing said shaft to cause it to be engaged by the design applying belt, driving means for said conveyor and design applying belts to cause them to rotate and cause endwise travel of each shaft engaging them and receiying'means for the shafts discharge from the machine, said receiving means having portions disposed angularly in spaced relation cor responding substantially to the length of the shaft and inclined laterally to the direction of travel of said shafts to cause them to roll supported only by their extremities, and a pivoted lever supporting said guide means adapted to be engaged and operated for raising and lowering said guide means.

4. An ornament applying machine comprising supporting structure, spaced conveyor belts disposed side by side on said supporting structure and an ornament applying belt beside said conveyor belts, feed means for supplying shafts one at a time endwise onto said conveyor belts, guide means for maintaining each of said shafts as it is fed onto the machine in a definite position and for depressing said shaft to cause it to be engaged by the ornament applying belt, driving means for said conveyor and ornament applying belts to cause them to rotate and cause endwise travel of each shaft engaging them and receiving means for the shafts discharge from the machine, said receiving means having portions disposed angularly in spaced relation corresponding substantially to the length of the shaft and inclined laterally to the direction of travel of said shafts to cause them to roll supported only. by their extremities, and means adapted to be engaged and operated for raising and lowering said guide means.

5. A machine for applying a design to the circumference of an elongated member, comprising first relatively wide endless belt means having an upper run of substantial length, spaced supports for said belt means, drive means for said belt means, design applying endless belt means alongside said first belt means and having an upper run of substantial length slightly below the upper run of said first belt means, drive means for said design applying belt means, guide means angularly disposed to the upper runs of both of said belts, said guide means having a lateral portion for restraining sidewise motion of a member on said belts and an upper portion for holding the member downwardly against said belts, and means mounting said guide means above said belts.

6. The machine defined in claim 5, and means for applying design media to said design belt means.

7. The machine defined'in claim 5, in which said guide means is adjustably mounted above said belts.

8. The machine defined in claim 5, and feed means for supplying elongated members, one at a time, endwise to said first belt means.

9. The machine defined in claim 8, and means for receiving elongated members endwise from said design applying belt means, said receiving means having portions disposed in spaced relation corresponding substantially to the length of the elongated members and inclined laterally to the direction of travel of said members to cause them to roll supported only at their extremities.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 414,568 Paine et al. Nov. 5, 1889 1,268,891 Stommel June 11, 1918 1,876,651 Finley Sept. 13, 1932 2,868,403 Mattingly et a1. Jan. 13, 1959 

